Public Involvement in Health Research

Theme leaders:

There is recognition nationally and internationally of the importance of public involvement in health and social research, and it is UK Department of Health policy for the public to be involved in NHS, social care and public health research. Current guidance on research governance states, for example, that public involvement should exist at every stage of research where appropriate. By being expert witness to their own illness or health condition, it is argued that members of the public are well placed to improve both the quality and relevance of health research that is undertaken.

A research programme on the topic of public involvement in health and social research is focused around the following questions:

What is the impact of public involvement on different research processes and outcomes, different subject areas within health research, and research using different methods? And how should we best measure impact?

What does it mean to involve the public successfully in health research?

What are the attitudes of key stakeholders to public involvement in health research?

Published work on public involvement in health research, by the theme leads, is detailed below, grouped into the three main areas of enquiry on which the research programme is focused.

Published papers on public involvement in health research and its impact

Boote J, Wong R, Booth A (2012). "Talking the talk or walking the walk?" A bibliometric review of the literature on public involvement in health research published between 1995 and 2009. Health Expectations, DOI: 10.1111/HEX.12007

Boote J, Baird W, Sutton A (2011), Public involvement in the design and conduct of clinical trials: a review. The International Journal of Interdisciplinary Social Sciences, manuscript accepted for publication.